Home-made Full-fat Cottage Cheese.

Home-made cottage cheese is far superior to anything you’ll find at the supermarket — it’s made with high-quality ingredients, and contains none of the preservatives, thickeners, and stabilisers used commercially.

The only piece of equipment you might not already have is a kitchen thermometer, but they’re inexpensive and worth keeping in any well-stocked kitchen.

Method.

1. Slowly heat the milk in a heavy-based saucepan to 86 °C, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from the heat, add the vinegar, and stir briefly to initiate curd separation.
3. Let the milk rest undisturbed for 45 minutes, until cooled and the curds have fully separated from the whey.
4. Strain through a fine sieve (or muslin cloth), pressing the curds gently to remove the whey.
5. Transfer the curds to a bowl, mix with the cream, and season with the salt.
6. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge.

To flavour.

Once your cottage cheese is made, you can keep it plain or stir through one of the additions below:

• Savoury — black pepper, crushed garlic, lemon or lime zest, fresh chives, mint, paprika, ground cumin, or finely diced chilli.
• Sweet — a pinch of cinnamon, a drizzle of raw honey, or a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa.